Uzumaki Chronicles: Wind Dancers
by Rurouni Tyriel
Summary: A joint mission between Sand and Leaf is organized to remove some run of the mill bandits plaguing the borders of the two great nations. But why is Temari so anxious? And why has Kakashi been dispatched to help them? What don’t they know?
1. New Mission

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own Naruto, they belong to Kishimoto. I wish I owned Naruto though, or at least had permission to write for the filler arcs. Then I could get this story animated.

**Summary:**

A joint mission between Sand and Leaf is organized to remove some run-of-the-mill bandits plaguing the borders of the two great nations. But why is Temari so anxious? And why has Kakashi been dispatched to help them? What don't they know? Takes place sometime during the Filler Arcs and before the Timeskip. Rated PG-13 for action violence and some light cursing.

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It was a hot day, and it only promised to get hotter.

And if the heat didn't kill you, the humidity would in short order.

Idly Shikamaru shifted in his spot, hoping that a breeze would come by soon and cool him. Alas, he was disappointed, for in addition to being such a very hot day, it was also a very still one. Not a breeze, not even a cloud in sight to shield him from the merciless rays of the sun. There were some leaves from an overhanging tree branch, but that was about it.

He could've moved to the other side of the tree, out of the sun, but that would've been too troublesome.

He said as much.

Well, actually he just kind of exhaled really loud and closed his eyes. Staring at the back of his eyelids was almost as good as watching clouds. Besides, wasting his breath was troublesome too.

The sounds of activity caused him to re-open his eyes a crack. Idly he glanced over at his teammate for this mission. Naruto was, typically, all energy, even in this heat, and hadn't stopped moving (though he had shucked his orange jacket and had it hanging over a nearby tree branch). He was practicing his tree-climbing technique, trying to walk up a nearby tree while carrying a heavy burden (in this case, a large rock) in his arms. So far he wasn't doing so well, but he kept at it, and the young Nara chuunin was glad, it kept the hyperactive blonde from bothering him.

It also gave him a chance to think about their mission.

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"_It's a joint-village mission," Tsunade had explained, back in Konoha._

"_Joint ... mission?" a puzzled Naruto had asked._

"_They're when two villages have a similar goal," replied Shikamaru immediately. "Rare but not unheard of. It helps strengthen village relations by having them both send a small team to do a job and work together, rather than both send a big team and end up with casualties on both sides when they fight over who gets to do what."_

"_More or less," remarked Shizune, who stood behind her mentor, holding Tonton._

"_It's the Hidden Village of Sand," clarified Tsunade. "For the past month we've had reports coming in of merchants being attacked by a small cabal of bandits in the region directly between the Fire and Wind Countries. No Man's Land. But both countries are affected by this problem, so both villages want to solve it. We've come to a compromise, and we'll both be sending a team in to wipe out the bandits. For Konoha, that team is you two," she said._

_Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto._

_Shikamaru raised his hand, a habit he retained from his days at the Academy._

"_Question," he stated, waiting for Tsunade to nod her head before continuing. "Why us?"_

_The blonde Sannin frowned slightly, mildly irritated by his tone. How could such a genius be such a whiner, she sometimes wondered. "Because you two are well known in Sand, and in particular are used to the team they're sending. You've worked together before. Teamwork will be critical on this mission, so soon after the troubles with Hidden Sound. This mission is as much diplomatic as it is practical."_

"_Makes sense," replied Shikamaru after a moment's thought. "What's the real reason?"_

_Tsunade smirked. He -was- perceptive._

_She leaned back in her desk, interlacing her fingers before she replied to that one. "Because you and Naruto have proven you can beat the team they're sending if worse comes to worse," she said. "During the final matches of the Chuunin exam and afterwards during the battle. I'm not saying we don't trust Hidden Sand, but the truth is we don't truly trust anyone. That's why we've prepared for all eventualities. However, neither of you are to make the first move. Hidden Leaf honors its deals even if other villages don't. Understood?"_

_Naruto barely understood one word in twenty of what the Fifth Hokage had just said, and his face was scrunched up in that way it did when he was thinking deeply and trying to understand. But to Shikamaru, she'd pretty much just summed up -exactly- why they'd been chosen. And who their new teammates for this mission would be._

"_Great," he muttered under his breath._

_The infamous Sand siblings._

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A heavy sigh escaped his lips.

"How troublesome."

He glanced up at the sky, noting the position of the sun. It was still early, Gaara's team wasn't due to arrive for another hour, which was fine as far as he was concerned. It was hot enough in the Fire country during this unseasonably warm summer. He had no real desire to know just how it was going to be out in the Wind Country. Hopefully by the time they arrived and set off it'd be darker out, and thus less unpleasant.

So Shikamaru drifted off back to sleep and hoped he could wake up and find out the whole mission had just been a bad dream.

No such luck.

The sun had set a bit by the time Naruto gave his cry, jolting Shikamaru out of his sleep. Fortunately, he'd been sleeping lightly, so he was back to full consciousness in a matter of minutes. It was a ninja lesson most Genin got the hang of pretty quick. If you sleep too deep you tended to get killed. That's why the Nara matron usually had to resort to explosive tags to get him out of bed at home... it was the one place he allowed himself to indulge in really deep sleep.

"Shikamaru! They're coming! I can see 'em!"

"Hmmm, wonderful," muttered Shikamaru, slipping to his feet and rubbing his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. Being around Naruto tended to do that to him. The blonde idiot had entirely too much energy for his own good. But he shoved those thoughts aside and did his best to make himself presentable. For the mission if nothing else, diplomatic as it was.

As Uzumaki had stated, they were coming.

They were a fair distance off still, but fairly visible past the treeline. A man and a woman. Or, more precise, a girl and a boy, not much older than Shikamaru and Naruto themselves. The boy was clad in dark crimson, a gigantic gourd slung over his back, his hair a distinct shade of red both of them recognized instantly. And the girl was a dirty blonde, her hair done up in an odd four-ponytail structure, with a fan strapped to her back.

Gaara and Temari.

"I'd expected three of you," remarked Shikamaru, though this was something of a lie, since Tsunade had said both villages had ultimately settled on two. But he was curious to know the fate of the third Sand sibling.

Temari smirked. "Yeah well, Kankarou got injured on our last mission ... broken ribs take a while to heal properly, you know."

"Mmm. Just us then?"

"Yes," stated Gaara in no uncertain terms.

Shikamaru sighed. Normally he'd prefer a larger squad, and preferably one with loyalties he could count on, not a reluctant ally in Temari and a completely unpredictable unknown in Gaara. Still, if worse came to worse, he could _Kagemane_ the little Sand monster and run for it.

"So're we going?" asked Naruto, wondering why both sides were more or less just staring at one another.

Gaara nodded. "This way," he said, and he and Temari turned to lead the way, letting the Konoha ninja follow behind them.

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They set a light pace, for their destination wasn't too far. And so they crossed the borders from the Fire Country and into the Wind Country, where few trees grew and the ground was hard and barren of life. It was quite a change for some of them, so used to the foliage prevalent in the Fire country. To say nothing of the cool found in the shadows. Here, the sun blazed high overhead and there was no shadow to cover them. A welcome breeze did pick up, after a bit, and Shikamaru was grateful the Wind country was aptly named.

"So, fill us in on the latest?" remarked Shikamaru, following alongside Temari. Gaara, somewhat slower than his sister on foot, was lagging behind, and Naruto was with him.

"What, the bandits?" she asked.

"No I was interested in the weather here in Wind Country," he replied sarcastically.

She scowled, but decided against returning the jibe. "We've received word of another caravan about to reach the canyon where the bandits usually attack. Our orders were to reach you then intercept the caravan before they hit it."

"What're they carrying?"

"Mining equipment mostly," she replied. "A lot of the caravans are bringing that from your country into ours."

"What for?"

"Mining, of course," she replied with a saucy smirk, determined to get him back for his earlier sarcasm. "The Wind Countries economy thrives on it, we've got veins of iron and silver sitting underneath us. A lot of them have been used up but there's still plenty left untapped, and a new one was found three months ago."

Shikamaru processed this for a moment before asking his next question. "What about the ore? Why wouldn't the bandits go after it?"

"Too heavily guarded," she replied. "Hidden Sand's ANBU are watching over that, they'd need an army to get to it."

"Then what're they after ... any idea who their leader is?"

At this, Temari's movements shifted slightly, and her eyes darted to the side briefly before returning to meet his. "No," she replied. "We know where they're going to attack, that's enough. Quit asking questions that don't concern us," she stated, her voice as cold as the Snow Country breeze.

Eyes narrow, deep in thought, Shikamaru decided not to press the matter. Not now, at least.

But sooner or later he'd find out the truth of the matter.

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The four ninjas arrived on the edge of the canyon not much later, just as the sun was beginning to set. Naruto, Temari and Shikamaru had to hold up their hands to avoid the glare so they could see properly, but Gaara remained unblinking and unchanged, largely disregarding the firey orb to peer down below.

The canyon was very wide, and very long, and very, very deep, nearly a hundred meters or more. The bottom was a river one of the few that still snaked throughout the Wind Country and fed water to the few plants in the region. The far side of the canyon was marked by a "stepped" number of levels, some wide enough for heavy caravans to travel through. The side they were on was sheer and smooth and a straight drop all the way down.

They'd arrived just in time, they could already spot the caravan moving in the distance.

"Bandits usually don't attack until their prey is closer to the middle," remarked Temari, reaching behind her back to grab up her fan and swinging it open with a practiced movement. With a wave of her fan, she created an updraft, and then she swung her body up lightly onto the fan, using it as a glider on the same current she'd created, drifting down lightly as a feather to the far side of the canyon, on the same level as the caravan.

"Hey! How're -we- supposed to get across?!" yelled Naruto over at her, shaking his fist.

Gaara rolled his eyes, even as the cork in his gourd popped free. Instantly Shikamaru and Naruto's eyes widened, half-expecting a wave of sand to wash over them both and crush them. Seeing Gaara was still calm and collected, both of them managed to relax, but not a great deal. It was always unnerving being around the red-haired demon host. You never knew when or why he might turn on you.

However, the sand poured from his gourd in a slow, steady fashion, falling to the ground to form a thickish cloud of sand at the very edge of the cliff. This finished, Gaara stepped forward onto the sand cloud, proving it was as solid as the hard rock had been. He glanced back over at them, stepping to the edge of the cloud to give them room.

"Coming?"

Shikamaru and Naruto reluctantly climbed aboard, and Gaara commanded the sand to let them drift down to rejoin Temari, who stood hand on her hip, waiting impatiently. Shikamaru gazed skywards, and silently questioned how on earth he'd allowed the Fifth Hokage to talk him into this. Beside him, Naruto did the same thing aloud, and with far less respect.

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It had seemed like just any other boring old mission Naruto had gone on. He'd fought bandits before. He'd protected caravans before. This one was even nicer than usual, since the old lady who led the caravan and her youngest granddaughter, a sweet, plump little girl, had let him ride in the front with their wagon. It was almost too easy.

Shikamaru and the Sand Siblings were on guard, however, knowing they'd been sent here for a reason. Shikamaru and Temari were positioned in the middle, on either side of one of the larger wagons, walking alongside it. Gaara was in the rear, mainly because any attack trying to catch him off-guard would be deflected by his _suna no tate_. Shikamaru had been the one to draw up the plan, though he'd been surprised when Gaara had volunteered to watch the rear. So he'd quickly altered it to place Naruto in the front, so he could quickly provide support to any section that needed it.

So the first few hours had passed uneventfully. Naruto had been on the verge of falling asleep in the wagon from sheer boredom, Temari and Shikamaru had been trading insults (sometimes very loudly) and Gaara, well, he couldn't see him from here, he presumed that Gaara would be Gaara, never sleeping, never relaxing, never interacting with the merchants.

During the early evening, the bandits struck.

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**Author's Notes:**

I would like to credit Crash and their story 'Everdream' for inspiring a number of elements in this story, particularly the Temari-Shikamaru relationship.


	2. More than Meets the Eye

Four Days Later.

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It was a scene of carnage, destruction, and devastation. As far as the eye could see there were overturned wagons and shattered barrels, bodies of merchants young and old, women and children. Anything unbroken had been broken, anything bent had been bent more, until it was a mess barely recognizable as a merchant caravan. Half of their equipment lay strewn about on the ground too, their merchandise tossed about as if the attackers had grabbed it and been forced to drop it in their haste upon fleeing. There were a few bodies of dead merchants here and there, but not many, and tracks running southward indicated where the rest had gone.

Some of their attackers were present too, although no longer a danger. They were as dead as those they'd slaughtered, kunai and shuriken dotting their forms, blood pooling at the ground. They wore dark masks and headdresses to keep out the sun and cut down on the windburn, as well as keep their identities secret.

All in all, it did not look promising, mused Kakashi.

Graceful as a panther, the copy ninja leapt down from his perch on the canyon wall and into the middle of the destroyed caravan, casting his single eye about with a careful glance. So far, not a single sign of Naruto, Shikamaru, or the Sand Team. They weren't among the dead, that was for sure, but he saw no signs of them alive either. And truthfully, by now, he was getting more than a bit worried.

Tsunade had expected the mission to take no more than a day, and maybe another day for the team to report back to her office with all the information on the (hopefully) vanquished bandits. As it was, over three days had gone by, and she'd started to get nervous. Naruto might've gotten lost in the woods trying to get home but Shikamaru wouldn't, and he'd have headed straight back to her to give his report. So that meant something had gone wrong. So she'd plucked Kakashi, recently returned from an S-rank mission, and sent him to investigate and, if necessary, provide back-up for the Genins.

Carefully, he investigated the caravan, forming a mental image of what had happened based on the evidence.

"So they were attacked," he mused aloud. "Bandits ... at least ... two dozen or so," he said, counting the bodies on the ground, which numbered only about a third of that. Footprints and disturbances in the ground told him the rest, roughly. "Shikamaru tries to halt their advance," he said, noting a spot where the footsteps came to an abrupt, sudden halt. "Only caught half of them ... Gaara attacks," indicating where the sand had risen up and crushed several of the attackers. Idly, he crouched down, brushing away the sand from the poor soul crushed beneath it, examining his face and dress.

Shinobi. Unmistakable.

"Missing-nin," he stated with a sigh of disgust. "Sand mostly ... maybe some Rain," he amended, spotting a broken umbrella to the side. "No loyalty to their governments certainly ... renegades. But they must have a leader ... probably not here," he added. If they were ninjas, their boss would be too, and they'd probably be the toughest to take down. He saw no indication of that anywhere.

Kakashi again made his way around the edge of the caravan, examining one of the overturned wagons, which looked like it'd been hit by a localized wind gust. "Temari getting overactive ... no ... something else. This is too concentrated." Idly he knelt down to examine the wagon. It was overturned but virtually nothing else in the area was. This was very focused wind-blasts, nothing like what Temari could do. Her attacks were characteristically big and destructive. She was anything but subtle.

Kakashi's head suddenly snapped up, his one eye wide.

He was not alone.

If pressed, he wouldn't have been able to say why. He hadn't heard anything, he hadn't seen anything. But ninja developed a sixth sense early on to alert them to danger, and Kakashi always listened to his. If he hadn't, he'd have been dead years ago.

His head snapping up was quickly followed by his body as he wasted no time in launching himself skyward and into a mid-air flip, dodging a flurry of shuriken that embedded themselves into the wagon where he'd been standing seconds before. Wasting no time he grabbed a kunai from his pouch and lifted it up, even as he landed in a crouch. A good move, for his attacker charged forward suddenly and his kunai struck, blocking the attack meant to take his other eye.

Kakashi got a decent look at the attacker, heavy padded vest, turban and cloth drawn up over his face, only one eye visible in the shadows. Then his attacker kicked some sand up and Kakashi leapt backwards to keep his vision. He hurled his kunai wildly at his foe. It missed, but it was mostly to prevent a follow-up attack. Kakashi followed it up by launching two shuriken, forcing his foe to duck out of the way and sending him further back, batting aside the two shuriken with his kunai.

"Who're you?" he asked, deciding to forego studying him and just going straight for questions. "One of the bandits?"

"Don't insult me," barked the other man, who's gender was discernible by his voice if nothing else. He reached up and indicated the headband around his forehead, the symbol of the Hidden Village of Sand was unmistakable. "I'm not one of these lowlife renegades ... as I see you're not," he managed, with a flick of the eyes upwards at Kakashi's own forehead protector. "I recognize you now... Hatake Kakashi," he stated after a moment's thought.

Kakashi considered this. Hidden Leaf had dispatched him to aid the genins, could it be that Sand had shared the same brilliant idea? Or even planned something like this?

"Your voice is familiar too," replied Kakashi, though he was bluffing. "Care to show me your face?"

The figure hesitated, then shrugged. "I don't see why not," he replied, reaching up and tugging down on the bottom part of his ensemble, exposing his face. Half of it, anyway. The right half, which bore two distinct, claw-like red slashes along his cheek. The left half remained hidden behind a veil made specifically for that purpose.

Kakashi recognized him instantly, by that trademark alone. "Gaara's jounin instructor," he said, taking a moment to find his name. They'd been introduced during the Chuunin exams, just before their kids came in for the preliminary elimination. "Baki."

"That's me."

"I presume you're here to investigate as well?" he asked, slipping his hands into his pockets and relaxing into a casual stance. It was deceptive, he could still move lightning-fast if Baki caused him any trouble.

"Obviously. What've you found?"

Clever, he thought. Give nothing, and ask for everything. Kakashi decided to play his game. "Pretty obvious what happened here," he replied dryly, giving away nothing. "Both our teams were here though..."

" ...question is where they went," finished Baki.

One-eye met one-eye, and in that moment, both special ops jounins saw their goals were one and the same. Above all, they were really concerned for their students. Why shouldn't they work together on this matter?

Kakashi's hand came up and he ran it across the side of the overturned wagon, nicking his thumb on a stray nail that was poking through to draw blood. He then formed together seals, careful to move slowly so Baki could see he wasn't making an attack. His hand came up and he lightly slammed it down on the ground.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_."

A puff of smoke later, and on the ground before Kakashi sat a little brown dog, dressed in blue ninja gear and wearing a sour expression. He raised his paw in greetings and gave an unenthusiastic "yo."

"Pakkun," said Kakashi, "We need you to locate our students. Their tracks might be hard to follow, likewise their scent. It's been a few days."

"I'll manage something," replied Pakkun, going onto all fours and sniffing around while Kakashi and Baki watched him quietly.

"I have something," he announced. "Smells like blood ... old blood."

"That'll be Gaara," remarked Baki. "His sand ... carries the scent of old blood. Anyone he's killed."

"Then that's the way we go," agreed Kakashi.

As one, they took off. And hoped they'd be able to find their students alive and in one piece.

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**Author's Notes:**

I never really thought about the similarities between Baki and Kakashi until I wrote this story. Eerie.


	3. First Move

Three Days Earlier

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Naruto had been dozing off in the front wagon when an explosion up front had been set off. Instantly he was awake and alert, and so was everyone else in the caravan. Several more explosions went off in front of the caravan, and seemed an equal mixture of exploding tags and smoke bombs. Quickly the area was filled with a thick fog. Naruto went to work as quickly as he could, and charged forward.

However, the explosions were designed to stop the caravan, not damage it. The bandits came charging down the side of the crevice, running and jumping down the "stepped" levels straight towards their exposed flank, leaving Temari and Shikamaru to stop them.

The ponytailed chuunin snapped his hands up in a familiar seal and spread his legs wide, hoping to expand his shadow a little with the help of the setting sun.

"_Ninpou... Kagemane no jutsu_!"

Shikamaru's shadow shot out in a dozen different directions, snaring about ten of the bandits just as they'd started to attack the caravan, freezing half of the attacking men in mid-strike or throw. Instantly, Shikamaru felt the strain, he normally only used this technique on one individual. Twelve was his absolute limit, and he could only hold that for six seconds. He'd be lucky to hold these ten for twice that.

"Anytime you're ready," he muttered, glancing over his shoulder at Temari.

The blonde-haired fan-user, however, was having her own troubles. She had been about to give backup, sweep away half the attacking bandits in one swoop, but she'd had to bring up her fan and deflect a flurry of kunai that rained down upon her. She couldn't quite see the attacker, but whoever it was, it was high above her. The glare from the setting sun was preventing her from seeing anything beyond shadows.

"Got problems of my own, Nara!" she yelled back angrily, as she flipped up her fan into her hand swung, sending a small hurricane spinning through the air. She wasn't sure if she hit, but it might keep her attacker at a distance until she could see them properly.

Shikamaru's strain redoubled as he grimly held on, but the bandits were already beginning to struggle. Normally, holding onto one struggler would've been easy, most shinobi didn't have the raw physical strength to break free of his technique once caught in it. But all ten, all at once, and with the chaos of battle all around, it was getting difficult.

Quickly, his mind ran through possible scenarios before he ran out of chakra.

Fortunately, salvation lay much closer at hand.

"_Sabaku Kyuu_!"

The sand rose up and instantly washed over the bandits, engulfing them in sand. Shikamaru cut the shadow technique and let it retreat back to his side, severing the connection before he experienced the same pain they were. And he definitely didn't want to feel what was coming next.

"_Sabaku Sousou_!"

The sand contracted violently, and Shikamaru winced as blood splattered all over the sandy ground. Inside, all of the bandits would've been crushed to death in an instant. In a way, it wasn't a bad way to go, there was no pain involved because it was too fast. Still, Shikamaru would've preferred to die the old-fashioned way. In a bed, after a long, boring life.

"Thanks," he managed, glancing over at his side, where Gaara stood impassively. The sand was already drawing back into his gourd

"... you're welcome," replied Gaara stiffly, after a moment's hesitation.

The fact that he even said it all made Shikamaru's frown grow all the deeper. Gaara was completely different from when they'd last met, during the Chuunin exams. And by now most of Konoha had heard how Naruto had been the one to finish him off in that final battle, though many believed that the Uchiha prodigy, who'd been the one to tell them, was simply being modest. Shikamaru was one of those few who didn't. He'd heard what Naruto had said when they'd confronted Gaara.

So they were the same. Had Naruto somehow broken through to Gaara and made a connection?

A shuriken whizzed past his ear, and the second would've hit him in the side if a wall of sand hadn't suddenly intercepted it.

"There are more opponents," Gaara stated unnecessarily.

"No kidding," replied Shikamaru. He grabbed up a kunai. "Go help Naruto, I'll give your sister a hand."

Gaara nodded and took off, and Shikamaru turned to aid Temari.

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Meanwhile, in the front, Naruto was having problems of his own.

The smoke had been getting thicker and thicker to the point he was even starting to choke on the fumes, so he'd stumbled about blindly until he'd reached the end on the far side of the smoke, nearly running into the business end of a kunai before instincts took over and he ducked. The blade just clipped his blonde spikes as it whizzed overhead.

"HEY!"

"Oh drat... I missed," came a lazy drawl.

Before Naruto stood three individuals. Two women, one man, most of them not more than three or four years older than Naruto himself.

The boy was on the tallish side, maybe a head taller than Naruto, and lanky, with barely any fat on his body anywhere. He was dressed in white, flowing robes and had a calm, serene look about him. He had been the one who'd spoken, the one who's kunai had nearly given Naruto a haircut. He didn't seem overly concerned he missed. A forehead protector was wrapped around his waist like a belt, almost like an afterthought.

The first girl, the younger, stood beside him, with short cut black locks and a maniac grin on her face. Her purple eyes were open just a little too wide, her smile a little too forced to be anything but induced by insanity. Her giggle was further evidence of that. She was dressed in black fishnets and skintight shinobi garb, not unlike the outfit Hinata wore underneath her coat. A leather glove covered her right arm, bearing a blue gemstone the size of a walnut that sparkled eerily. A forehead protector was wrapped around the same arm just below her shoulder.

The final girl was older than the others, properly called a woman instead of a girl, perhaps the same age as Shizune, or maybe a few years older. Compared to her over-zealous and over-relaxed students, she struck a happy medium, her expression cool and relaxed but not so much she looked on the verge of falling asleep. Her hair was a dirty blonde, drawn back in two ponytails like Tsunade's, and she was dressed in a dark purple kimono, an elaborate, wide obi of a lighter shade of violet wrapped around her waist. She looked more like she was set to go to a formal event instead of battle, but the forehead protector around her neck indicated she was every bit a ninja as the others. Her eyes were narrowed in anger, and looked like slivers of blue ice.

Unlike the other two, something about the older woman struck a cord in Naruto. Something about her was very, very familiar, but he couldn't quite place what it was.

Their forehead protectors had the same symbols as Temari and Gaara. The Village Hidden in the Sand.

"Konoha filth," the older woman spat. "Jougo, kill him."

"Sure thing, Lady Kayuha," intoned the boy, lazily reaching into the front of his robes and grabbing a pair of kunai, which he hurled lazily in Naruto's direction. Both were surprisingly accurate for such a weak throw, but Naruto was ready this time, and batted them aside with a kunai of his own, then charged forward.

"You bastard!"

Naruto's fist surged forward, and the boy shifted his body, ever so slightly. His punch went wild, veering past the boy's side and missing him completely. His opponents counter-attack, however, struck Naruto full in the face, and he went flying backwards, clutching his bleeding nose and cursing very loudly in general.

"Owww..." he muttered, wondering how he missed. He was sure that punch had been dead on.

Both of the women slipped past at this time, counting on Naruto's distraction with Jougo. The boy in white simply smiled, and raised his hand, beckoning Naruto on. Predictably, the blonde Genin obliged, but this time he snapped up his hands in a familiar seal first.

"_Kage Bunshin no jutsu_!"

A puff of smoke later and six Naruto's surged forward, each throwing punches, elbow jabs, kicks, one even attempting a nasty headbutt. Not a single blow landed, as Jougo's body moved and twisted, avoiding the blows or batting them aside as if they were nothing. Naruto was having sinking flashbacks to his battle with Neji, where Gentle Fist had knocked aside his blows without even trying. But something about this felt different. Half the time Jougo wasn't even raising his arms to block, just dodging.

And he wasn't even that fast. Naruto just kept... missing.

One bad blow sent his fist past Jougo into one of his clones, causing it to puff and vanish, and a second one's kick did the same to another. In seconds, Naruto was panting for breath, alone again, and Jougo just stood there with that eerie smile on his face. Not a single hit hand landed.

"Done?"

Naruto growled, low and menacing, and lifted his head.

"Just getting warmed up."

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Kayuha and her subordinate quickly moved past Naruto towards the caravan, content to see some of their bandits were working quickly to grab up the crates and take them along, though she saw two clumsy idiots overturn one in their haste.

"Fools! Out of my way!" she snarled, reaching into her obi and drawing out a fan, snapping it open with a practiced motion.

"_Fujin no Mai!_"

With a wave, she sent a powerful breeze through the air to slam into the first caravan wagon, knocking it clean onto it's side. The barrels spilled out all over the ground. Her minions were quick to obtain them and run for it.

As Kayuha strolled casually through the carnage, she glanced over to the side at a huddling figure, spotting the old woman and her fat granddaughter, trying to hide out of sight by the wheels of one of the other wagons. Her eyes narrowed to slits.

"_Fujin no Mai!_"

Again, a wave of her fan, a gust of breeze. Strong enough to knock over a wagon and certainly powerful enough to kill an elderly woman and her over-fed relative...

... if a wall of sand hadn't suddenly risen up, blocking the blast of wind and weathering it with barely a ripple. Kayuha's eyes snapped wide in shock, and she glanced over to spot a red-haired, red-clad boy standing there quietly. There could be no doubt in her mind. If there was, it was instantly dispelled by the infamous, blood-red tattoo on his left temple.

"Gaara?! Fall back! Everyone fall back now!" she shouted.

As one, the bandits dropped their things, ended their attacks, and ran. Kayuha and her subordinates were close behind, and Jougo stepped into pace quickly alongside them. Within minutes, the attack had ended, half of the bandits dead, and only a few casualties amongst the merchants. Only two dead, but a score of wounded. The old woman and her granddaughter were completely untouched thanks to Gaara. And none of the Genin had been injured, though Naruto was out of breath. Shikamaru had a long gash on his arm from a kunai but was otherwise fine.

"We have to give pursuit," said Temari grimly. "We have to finish this."

The sun had fully set by the time the four shinobi had completely gathered, bandaged wounds and traded stories. The merchants were heading back down the route they'd come. Now that they had no merchandise to steal, they'd be able to make it safely to their destination. They took one wagon, loaded up what was left, and were on their way with their lives at least.

Now it was time to make decisions.

"We should pursue in the day," replied Shikamaru thoughtfully. "We do have to go after them... the bandits aren't yet gone, so the mission isn't over. But to follow them at night is suicide. They know this terrain better than we do."

"I know my way around these damn canyons," replied Temari, her exasperation evident. "We're going."

"I outrank you," he reminded her.

"You're a foreigner," -she- reminded -him-.

"Oh come on Shikamaru!" whined Naruto, sick of hearing those two argue. Honestly, sometimes they sounded like an old married couple. "Let's just go get those bandits and kick their butts and go hoooome!"

Shikamaru sighed, glancing idly over at Gaara, who'd been silent during the conversation.

"We have to finish this," he stated.

Three to one. Even Shikamaru knew when he was outvoted.

"Maaaaan..."

--

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--

They took off, following the general path of the bandits in a wide arc, in case their path changed. Fortunately, the bandits weren't very good at covering their tracks, and even if they had been, they'd been trained to recognize chakra of powerful opponents like those that Naruto had run up against. They'd find them with little trouble, they weren't even masking themselves.

Something bugged Shikamaru, however.

"Is there something you're hiding from us?" he asked without preamble as the four of them raced under the desert moon.

"Like what?" asked Temari, barely giving him a glance.

"Like the bandit's leader..." he said. Now she was looking at him, and her eyes were promising a very slow, painful death. "She took one look at Gaara and nearly wet her fancy kimono. And I saw those bandits headbands... half of them were Hidden Sand. So again I ask, is there something you're hiding from us?"

"Lots of the bandits are missing-nin," replied Temari after a moment. "After the Kazekage's death they abandoned our home and now fight for their own causes. Leader included."

"So ninja, not just run-of-the-mill bandits... how troublesome," he sighed. "Anything else?"

"No," she stated hotly, and quickly increased her pace to outdistance him.

Something was bugging her, he realized. And not just something about the mission. Something was really weighing on Temari's mind. He couldn't quite figure out what it was, not just yet. And to press her now would just make things worse. He needed to keep the team coherent enough so they wouldn't fall prey to the bandits. Especially now that he knew some of them were shinobi. And powerful ones, it seemed like.

Still, they were on the defensive now. Hopefully that would give them the edge they needed.

--

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--

**Author's Notes:**

Jougo translates roughly as 'Funnel,' whilst Kayuha is similar to 'Wind-Wave.' 'Fujin no Mai' is Dance of Blades, and Inuyasha fans may recognize it as a signature attack of Kagura.


	4. Strategy

Elsewhere, another meeting of ninja was taking place.

Kayuha and her subordinates gathered on the far edge of the crevice, waiting for the return of their scout, who they'd just spotted. The fourth member of their team was a thin, brown-haired boy who dropped down from the sky to join them, retracting the wings of his flying harness as he did. A number of kunai hung from his body, as well as some empty holsters. He had been the one raining down attacks on Temari during the ambush, high up in the sky and safe from retaliation.

"The team is heading this way, Lady Kayuha," he stated. "And it's confirmed, it's Gaara and Temari."

"And the Kazekage's other brat?" hissed the younger girl by Kayuha's side.

"No sign of him, Kuro'kiri. Just the Konoha twerps, the replication boy and the shadow user."

"Easily taken care," replied Jougo with a vague wave of his hand.

"Yes but Gaara isn't," snapped Kayuha angrily. "Touhi!" she said suddenly, turning to the brown-haired boy. "Which way were they coming?"

"Winding Snake Path, same as we took, why?"

"Alright fine... if -this- is Winding Snake Path," she said, kneeling down and drawing a line in the ground with her closed fan. "... then -this- is where we strike."

They instantly comprehended her plan. "Clever," remarked Jougo.

"Yes... you two get in position. Move!"

"Yes, Lady Kayuha!" the boys replied with a salute. Touhi unfurled his wings again and leapt off a ledge to glide into the air, and Jougo took off running, though at a leisurely pace.

"Will you have a problem dealing with her?" asked Kuro'kiri, as she and Kayuha began to follow behind the boys. "Temari?"

Kayuha's eye twitched but she shook her head. "No. Why would I?"

"Why indeed?" replied Kuro'kiri, smirking wickedly. Oh, she was going to enjoy this. "Don't worry, Gaara's tough but we know how to bring even him down."

Kayuha nodded. "Then we can get back to our work," she remarked. They'd sent on the majority of the bandits ahead to do just that. But for now, they needed to deal with Sand and Leaf's team, and wipe them off the face of the Earth. Permanently.

--

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--

Night came and went, Shikamaru's team kept coming with determination and vigor. Of them all, only their chuunin leader was showing any strain, both Temari and Naruto had energy to spare. And Gaara, well, he never slept. Ever.

It was midday when they finally came across their quarry in one of the winding, narrow crevices of the region, which was narrow so that they could only walk two side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder. Shikamaru was nervous, it was an ideal spot for an ambush, and he was keen to avoid such happening, so he kept his eyes peeled.

Oddly enough, if Kayuha had intended an ambush, she had an odd way of going about it.

She was standing right in the middle of the path at the far end of the crevice, which opened up into a small clearing full of caves and rock formations. Her team could've still been hiding, however, and Shikamaru kept alert. Plus, to fight now might've been dangerous, with the sun high overhead, his shadow was relatively short, and he'd have to rely on tactics.

"Well well... Sand and Leaf, working together," remarked Kayuha lightly, fanning herself as if she was standing in court instead of a hot desert. "Cute."

"Don't make this harder than it has to be," growled Temari, unfurling her own gigantic fan and holding it at the ready. She was about to take a swing when she suddenly froze in her tracks.

Shikamaru grimaced slightly, already feeling the strain of holding her in his shadow. "Hold on... I want some information first."

Temari growled, though she couldn't turn her head to face him. "Fine, I'll give her a choice. You want the easy way or the hard way, Kayuha?" She sighed in relief when Shikamaru's shadow retreated.

"Your father always likes to take the hard route, didn't you know?" Kayuha spat back. "That stubborn..."

"The Kazekage is dead," stated Gaara, his voice cutting through the tension like a knife. All eyes shifted to him. "There is no need to continue as an enemy, Lady Kayuha. Hidden Sand..." Gaara blinked, his black-rimmed eyes suddenly clouded, and without warning, he pitched forward onto the rocky ground, unconscious before his face hit the ground.

The suddenness of the attack threw all of his comrades on guard, and none were more shocked then Temari. She alone comprehended what sleep meant with Gaara. The other two might figure it out in a bit but she didn't waste any time in raising up her fan and taking a step back, ready to run for her life the instant it was required.

In that instant, Kayuha's team attacked.

The trap was sprung.

--

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--

Within moments Jougo and Kuro'kiri had sprang from their hiding places and descended upon the team like hornets, leaping out from the tunnel and moving quickly to force them into opening with their leader Kayuha, who'd snapped open her fan and was preparing to use it. Touhi flew overhead, his wings blocking out the sun and creating shadows on the ground as he blocked off any chance of them leaping out of the canyon or running up the walls to escape.

Temari, Shikamaru, and Naruto immediately went back-to-back-to-back, forming a triangle so they could see an attack that came from any angle, and react accordingly. "Any bright ideas?" spat Temari angrily, holding up her fan to ward off attacks.

"We need a plan," muttered Shikamaru, palming a kunai and trying desperately to come up with one. He'd run a few scenarios, but none of them were ready for anything like this. He'd expected Gaara's back-up, unable to conceive of the Shukaku-host being incapacitated so quickly.

"I got your plan right here!" shouted Naruto, forming a familiar seal. "_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!"

A dozen Narutos filled up the already cramped space of the canyon opening, forming a small wall around Shikamaru and Temari, and half of them charged forward at Kuro'kiri and Jougo, while another two went after Kayuha. The first two were intercepted by swift kicks from Jougo, causing them to puff up into smoke and vanish.

"Haven't you learned anything?" he asked serenely, hands up, beckoning Naruto on again.

Suddenly a weight hit him form behind, and two arms wrapped around his body over his own arms, pinning them to his sides. "Actually, yeah!"

Jougo's eyes opened wide in surprised. Pinned by the clone who'd attacked him from behind, the other two charged forward, and he was virtually helpless.

Or was he?

"_Kaze Jiten_!" intoned Jougo, and without warning his body suddenly spun about as if he stood in the center of a hurricane, taking the Naruto clone hanging on to him for a ride. The other two clones, unable to stop themselves, were hit fully in the chest by the first clones swinging feet, and puffed out of existence. Jougo continued to spin, however, until Naruto finally let go and went crashing down into a nearby cave, groaning in pain. The fact that this one didn't puff out of existence indicated he was the real deal.

Jougo came to a halt, spreading out a leg slightly to halt his spin. "Foolish boy, you don't understand. I control the winds themselves... so long as they surround my body, you cannot touch me," he said, brushing off his crisp white robes.

Meanwhile, Temari and Shikamaru were having trouble of their own.

"_Fujin no Mai_!"

"_Kamaitachi_!"

Gust of wind met gust of wind, and the whole canyon was filled with the after affects as Temari and Kayuha's technique's clashed in the middle. However, it soon proved apparent that the older woman, despite wielding a smaller weapon, was the more powerful of the two. Temari was quickly put on the defensive, using her gigantic fan to block instead of attack. She and Shikamaru crouched behind it as another wave of wind pushed them back.

"Well?!" she shouted, taking out her frustration on her teammate, unable to harm her opponent.

"Thinking," he replied calmly. Then he spotted Naruto's predicament. "We'll fall back to the cave," he said suddenly, an idea half-formed in the back of his mind. "Use it with my shadow, I'll restrain Kayuha, you get..."

Another gust of wind hit them full force, sweeping Temari off her feet and plowing straight into Shikamaru, who did his best to catch her even as the two of them went tumbling end over end. Shikamaru landed flat on his back in the cave floor beside Naruto, and gave an undignified 'oof' as Temari collapsed atop of him.

As the three of them scrambled to regain their footing, the bandit shinobi dropped down by the cave entrance, blocking them off from Gaara and boxing them in. Kuro'kiri nodded at Kayuha, who raised her fan.

"Farewell... daughter..."

"DAUGHTER?!?!" shouted Naruto and Shikamaru, seemingly at once.

"_Ryuuja no Mai_!"

If Kayuha's previous attacks had been powerful, now they were overwhelming. A torrent of wind developed, so strong and so charged with chakra it was visible to the naked eye. A hurricane shot forward as sharp as a spear and clove deep into the rocks above their heads. Naruto grabbed up Shikamaru and Temari and yanked them back as great stones came caving down, and within minutes, the whole cave was completely buried in rubble.

--

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--

How long he languished in the darkness unconscious, Shikamaru Nara, recently promoted to Chuunin, didn't know. All he knew was when he was awake. It was difficult to miss the blinding pain that seemed to run up and down his body. For a while he lay like that, until the thick dust of the air forced him upright, coughing heavily for oxygen. He was fortunate he wasn't taller, his topknot brushed up against the ceiling. A moment or two passed, and he was able to breath reasonably well again. Forcing himself deliberately to calm down and breath slowly, he took a moment to examine himself.

He was hurt, yes, but mostly bruises or shallow cuts, nothing serious. No broken bones. His head was virtually untouched, though it was sore in the back where he'd hit a rock and lost consciousness. Tentatively he pressed his fingers against his skull. No fractures, no deepening of the pain. He would recover in little time.

Shikamaru then took stock of the situation.

The cave-in... he'd been buried alive, along with...

Hastily he reached into the pack at his side and drew out one of his custom-made light bombs, activating the seal on the side and tossing it up, careful to cover his eyes in the process. Despite this, a blinding light filled the space, and even his eyes were momentarily overloaded. However, it quickly died down to a manageable level, and he re-opened his eyes.

With the light bomb illuminating the area, he could see clearly Temari and Naruto with him. Temari was largely unmarked save for some bruises on her arms and legs, but Naruto had a nasty gash on his forehead where he'd hit a rock coming down. Shikamaru wasn't positive how to deal with that, he knew the head was a sensitive region (despite Naruto's seeming lack of use of it) and wasn't sure how to handle it.

For all he knew, Naruto was dead.

Gaara would be too by now, if he'd been left alone. Even the monster inside of him couldn't protect him indefinitely if Gaara was unconscious, he reasoned. And how had he even been knocked unconscious anyway? Had the bandits found some way to counteract his shield and armor?

His list of allies rapidly dwindling, Shikamaru crawled forward to check on Temari's conditions, pressing two fingers to her neck to check for a pulse. He wasn't a medic-nin but he should be able to tell if someone was alive or not.

Nice and strong, plus she was breathing reasonably well. She would be alright, he surmised. One problem solved. Plenty more left to deal with. He crawled over towards Naruto, and was surprised to see his wound didn't look nearly as deep up close. Maybe the light had made it seem worse. He checked his pulse too, found it very strong. So was his breathing. He might even wake up soon. Not that it'd help the situation much.

Right now, it was simply a matter of what killed them first. Starvation. Lack of oxygen. Cave-in. Or the ninjas hunting for them above.

He sighed heavily.

"How troublesome."

--

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--

When the smoke had cleared, no sign of the three ninja remained, only a big pile of rubble. Kayuha snapped her fan shut.

"We're done here... now we can... can... can..."

"... continue with our work," said Kuro'kiri quietly. "You must be exhausted, Lady Kayuha. We should get you back so you can rest." She gently took the elder woman's arm to support her, but Kayuha shrugged her off.

"I'm fine."

"What about this one?" asked Jougo, indicating the fallen Gaara, who still lay flat on the ground on his stomach, eyes wide open.

"Kill him," hissed Touhi, dropping down onto a rock beside the red-haired monster. "I say we kill him now," he said, drawing out a kunai from his belt.

"You're welcome to try, idiot," replied Kuro'kiri, folding her arms.

Growling, Touhi thrust the kunai down... only to be blocked by a sudden shift in the sand. "The hell?" he muttered, drawing his arm back and try again. And again, and again, and still again. Each time the sand intercepted his attack. "What the hell is this?!"

"_Suna no Tate_," replied Kayuha. "It protects Gaara from any and all attacks."

"Any and all -physical- attacks," added Kuro'kiri. "My genjutsu slipped clean past it and right into his head. That's why he couldn't help his worthless friends."

Kayuha frowned, a sudden thought coming to her. "He's not asleep, is he?"

"No," replied Kuro'kiri. "He's still... awake, in a sense. But I'm feeding all of his senses, set in an endless loop. He only break it when he realizes its an illusion. But this should keep his... er... 'other side' dormant."

"Good. Just in case, we're moving out now. Double time," stated Kayuha. As one, she and her team took off and started running, leaving Gaara all alone.

--

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--

**Author's Notes:**

Kaze Jiten is 'Wind Spin,' or something like it and is similar (though not identical) to Neji's Kaiten. Ryuuja no Mai is another of Kagura's signature attacks, the infamous 'Dance of the Dragon.'


	5. Revelations

Another few hours passed. Or maybe it was just minutes. Shikamaru couldn't quite tell in the darkness and the silence. But finally, Temari started to stir. He gently caught her head before she jerked up as he had, nearly cracking her skull. She started coughing immediately, and her patted her back to clear her lungs.

"Oh god... Nara... what... " Cough. "The.. what the hell?" More coughs.

"Cave-in," he replied. "Kayuha caused it... but we seem to have survived the worst..." he paused as a shift in the rocks above him caused more dust to come flowing down. "... the worst of it," he continued, his voice a fraction lower than before.

"Gaara?"

"No sign of him. He wasn't in the cave when it came down."

"And your teammate... Naruto?"

Shikamaru glanced over at the blonde genin, who was still out cold. He said as much.

"Why haven't we dug out yet?"

"This place isn't stable," he replied. "We try to move the rocks we might cause another cave-in. We have to wait until back-up arrives."

"How long until your people realize what's wrong and coming looking?"

"Two days after we run out of air," replied Shikamaru. As she gave him an astonished look, he clarified. "I did some rough figures in my head while you were out. Given the time it'll take for them to realize there's trouble, send back-up, follow our trail, and find us, we'll be long dead."

"So... so what do we do?"

"For the moment, nothing," he replied, setting back down against the wall nearby. "No, scratch that... if we do make it out of here we've still got a mission to complete. And I want information. What haven't you told us?"

"Are you insane?" she screeched, the winced as most dust fell between cracks. Her voice dropped to a harsh whisper. "Now?!"

"You have some better way to pass the time?" he asked casually, quirking an eyebrow.

"It's not important," she said, turning her head away. This time, however, he grabbed her shoulder and yanked her back around none-too-gently.

"It -is- important if you know -anything- about our enemy," he stated, his voice deathly quiet. "My comrade is lying over there and might die because of this, and your brother likely already is dead. Now you're going to tell me everything you know or so help me..."

"What?" she snapped, her face inches from his. "You'll hit a woman?"

"I'll kill you, if it comes to that," he stated.

Their eyes met, and both saw they were dangerously serious. Shikamaru wouldn't hesitate to kill her to protect Naruto and himself, and she wouldn't go down without a vicious fight. But in this already hostile situation, neither of them wanted to add more things to worry about. Eventually, Temari crumbled, and gave a heavy sigh.

"She's my mother," she said as she sank back down.

"I gathered that much," replied Shikamaru, leaning back and giving her a little space.

"Kayuha was the Kazekage's first wife," she said. "You probably figured out by now that Gaara and I aren't full siblings."

He nodded. "None of you three seem to share much in common," he remarked.

"I take after my mom, Kankarou takes after our dad... but they divorced when we were little. The Kazekage then came up with the brilliant idea to make Gaara, and took his mother as his second wife. She died in giving birth to... to Gaara," she stated.

Her hesitation wasn't lost on Shikamaru. Gaara was fused with Shukaku -before- he was born. With the sand protecting him from an external threat, and given how messed up the red-haired boy was, Shikamaru had no trouble conjuring up an image of exactly what had happened.

"Go on," he stated, suddenly feeling ill and desperate to get back to more pleasant topics.

"Kayuha remained loyal to Hidden Sand until just a month after the Kazekage died... we were away on the mission to protect you and your teammates. When we returned, we'd found she'd gone into hiding with the bandits and declared war on Hidden Sand. Now she works with those other missing-nin to try and destroy our village."

"And now you're trying to kill her," he said in realization. This explained her moodiness and irritability. She was out to kill her own mother.

"Yes," she stated, brooking no room for argument.

Shikamaru pondered on this. Something wasn't adding up.

"She left after the Kazekage was dead?" he asked for clarification.

She frowned, unsure of how that mattered. "A month or so after, yes."

He thought on that for a moment. "Hidden Sand would be in a state of political turmoil... the same as it was with Hidden Leaf. It would be an ideal time for someone to seize power if that was their true objective. So why did your mother depart the village to hang out with third-rate bandits and missing-nins? And why wait a whole month before doing it?"

Temari frowned. "I don't know."

"Something here doesn't add up," he stated. "But we'll work out motives later... right now I need to know what she's capable of. If she's your mother... and her techniques are similar..."

"Yes, she trained me," she said bitterly, seeing where he was going. "We're fan-dancers. It's an uncommon practice even in Hidden Sand, which is why she and father were so anxious to teach it to me. But I wasn't a very good student."

He quirked an eyebrow at that, having been on the receiving end of her attacks numerous times.

"Most fan-dancers use small fans like mother has," she clarified. "I could never reach any great deal of power with them. I found the bigger ones on myself and hoped they would compensate for my lack of precision with raw power."

He nodded again, remaining silent.

"We haven't seen her full power yet... I know she's stronger than this," replied Temari quietly. Fearfully. "Stronger than you or I, Nara."

"What about her allies? Anyone you know or recognize?" Shikamaru asked.

She nodded, grateful for his change of topic. "Jougo definitely. He's the son of a high-ranking councilman of Hidden Sand. He's always been a genius combatant, but a bit of a brat. Arrogant. It was no real surprise to anyone when he ran away. I don't know the full range of his abilities but during his time in the Academy he was considered a top fighter."

He nodded, storing away that information for future use. It would likely be useless to approach Jougo in direct combat... they'd have to find some other way to deal with him. "And the others?"

"I don't know... I've never seen tricks like that before."

"So we've at least two enemies stronger than we are, and two complete unknowns... how troublesome," he remarked, giving a sigh. Above them, the earth shifted, and dust rained down on them both, reminding him of their other problems. "Assuming, of course, we get out of here alive to begin with."

"Ooooowwwww..."

Shikamaru and Temari's head's snapped up and turned immediately as Naruto sat up, rubbing his forehead. The wound he'd had only hours before was gone, his skin completely smooth, unmarked in any fashion. Still hurt like the Hokage monument had fallen on his head though.

"Temari... Shikamaru..." he said, noticing them. "What happened? What'd I miss?"

Rolling his eyes and muttering something damning about blonde stereotypes (and very glad Ino was not around to hear it) Shikamaru sighed and said "nothing much, Naruto."

They took another ten minutes filling him in. And another -twenty- minutes explaining to him what it all meant.

--

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--

Naruto blinked. Once. Then twice.

"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!!"

Two hands, one male one female, slapped fully over his mouth and bore him to the ground instantly. Above them, the rocks shifted and stirred, and the three of them prepared to be crushed by the heavy weight of the rocks high above. A moment passed, then two... and then the stirring stopped and the dust settled, and they were alright.

"Uzumaki Naruto," said Shikamaru in a tired, strained voice. "I swear if you speak above a whisper before we get out of this cave complex I will, as leader of this team, destroy your ability to produce heirs. And I remind you I'm not a medic-nin, so it's bound to be very, very messy."

Naruto's eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he clutched protectively at his manhood.

"Yes sir," he managed to squeak out, thankfully in a low tone of voice. Quietly.

Shikamaru nodded, his threat having not been serious but he wanted Naruto to understand their situation fully. "We wait for now. Until backup arrives."

"It may be nearby," remarked Temari. "Gaara might come for us."

"But now, in all likelihood, Gaara is long dead," replied Shikamaru quietly. He didn't mean to sound harsh but he didn't want to give Temari false hope either.

"No...!" Both Temari and Shikamaru shot Naruto dirty looks, and he instantly dropped his voice back down again. "No way... Gaara can't be killed that easily. What happened to him anyway? Did you two figure that out?"

The Nara chuunin frowned. That was another thing he hadn't been able to pick up on. "Gaara was knocked unconscious... how? I thought nothing could penetrate his shield."

"Hey yeah that's right," remarked Naruto. "Maybe he was hit in the back of the head and knocked unconscious?" he offered after a moment's thought.

"His shield would stop a strike to the back of the head," replied Temari. Honestly, was Shikamaru the only one in Hidden Leaf who -wasn't- a complete idiot? "Besides if he was unconscious he'd be asleep... Shukaku would've woken up."

"Oh yeah," replied Naruto, shivering. He remembered his encounter with the One-Tail. Gaara never slept. He had to invent a jutsu to -force- himself to sleep just to awaken the one inside of him. Idly he pressed a hand over his stomach, rubbing at the seal underneath his clothes.

"Genjutsu," said Shikamaru.

"Genjutsu?"

"It fits. If Gaara can't fall asleep that means he was still awake when he hit the ground. And if that's true, that means he didn't realize it... his senses are overwhelmed by an illusion. Genjutsu."

"But none of them have shown any amplitude for genjutsu," remarked Temari.

"That black-haired girl hasn't done anything yet that I've seen," said Naruto. "Maybe she specializes in genjutsu?"

"Possibly."

The sound of shifting rocks atop of them made them all freeze, and only after it had passed did they allow themselves to breath freely again. "We should be quiet and rest," said Shikamaru. "Wait for rescue."

"But I could blast us out of here," said Naruto. "One good _Rasengan_..."

"Could bring the roof down on our heads," replied Shikamaru darkly. "If Gaara was here and could cover our heads I might've considered it, but none of us are capable. We wait."

"But...!"

"We... wait."

Naruto grumbled darkly but sank down into his makeshift seat, arms folded across his chest, sulking. But he knew Shikamaru was probably right (since when was he ever wrong, he wondered) and decided to try his best to wait. Hell, he could wait. He'd wait longer than any of them, he quietly vowed.

--

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--

Naruto had many promising virtues if one could look past the hyperactive dumb blonde routine he usually adopted. He was inventive, determined, compassionate (sometimes even to his enemies), and courageous in the face of almost certain death.

But patience was not one of them.

Within less than twenty minutes, he was bored, bored, bored.

It also didn't help that Shikamaru's light bomb had gone out as well, and their Chuunin commander had reported that was the last he'd brought with him, not expecting to need it out here in the Wind Country. So they were left in the darkness for the moment. Any fire they built would've made smoke and killed them far quicker than running out of oxygen.

Idly, Naruto tried to run his hand up and down along the wall and get a feel for the place, try and get a mental image of it in his mind. He'd once heard of some ninjutsu masters blindfolding themselves and training like that, able to hear and feel their enemies and kill without sight. He'd never seen one, but it was a remarkably fascinating story none-the-less, and he wondered if it was true.

He reached out his hand...

... and stumbled forward as he couldn't find the wall.

"Ow!"

"Shhhh!!" both his teammates hissed at him. "Be quiet Naruto!"

Naruto winced, rubbing his elbow where he'd fallen, and raised his head up, reaching for the wall to try and steady himself. He missed again, but this time caught himself. Where was that darn thing?

The blonde Genin stumbled forward another two or three feet before he felt the wall to either side of him, and realized he'd reached a small crevice in the rock. Curious, he stretched out his hand a bit, wondering how far it went back. He couldn't feel the other end.

And there was another thing. He could feel a soft breeze on his face.

What was the old saying, where there's a wind there's a way?

"Shikamaru! Temari!" he said as loudly as he dared. "I think I've found something. I need some light."

"Found what?"

"I think I found a way out...!"

There was a frantic scrambling in the dark as Temari and Shikamaru dug around for their provisions, thankfully locating a torch Temari had been carrying and some flint and tinder Shikamaru kept in the pockets of his chuunin vest. Together, they managed to get a small flame going, and held it up.

Naruto was right.

Shikamaru said as much, then remarked on how lucky he'd been.

"I can't see how far it goes back," said Naruto, stretching out his arm further. "I can't reach that far."

"It looks like it widens after a bit," said Temari. "Should we risk trying to clear it?"

"If it leads to a dead end any disturbance might just make things worse," replied Shikamaru, holding up the torch as high as he could to give Naruto a better view.

"Wait, I got an idea!"

--

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--

**Author's Notes:**

Kayuha, Jougo, Touhi, and Kuro'kiri are all completely Original Characters, and they're mine. All mine. You can't have them unless you ask me mega ultra nicely.


	6. Shadow and Sand

Naruto drew back and reached up with his hand, biting down hard on his thumb. Embolded by the possibility of escaping, he didn't hesitate, barely even felt the pain. He was going to get them all out. His hands formed a few seals in quick succession. The boar. The dog. The bird. The monkey. And finally the sheep.

He slammed his open palm, still bleeding, against the cave floor.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_"

A puff of smoke later filled the cavern, obscuring their vision. When it cleared, a squat, orange little toad in a dark blue over-shirt squatted on the ground before Naruto. His body was covered in purple markings and designs, though it was difficult to tell if they were some strange kind of birthmarks, tattoos, or bodypaint. He raised his forearm in greetings. "Yo!"

Temari gave a most undignified screech and fell flat onto her backside, scrambling backwards.

"Gamakichi!" said Naruto, in greetings. "Good to see you again."

The little frog nodded. "What do you need?"

"We need you to do some scouting down this way, and see how far it goes."

"And if it's safe," added Shikamaru.

"Got it. No problem at all," he replied, hopping off immediately down the way Naruto indicated.

Temari, meanwhile he climbed back up to her feet and managed to restore what dignity she could, though she glared when Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Frogs are just..." she said. "Shut up," she finally settled on.

He nodded, but when his back was safely turned he rolled his eyes. Women.

A few minutes passed, and Gamakichi came bounding back. "It's a long tunnel," he said. "Seems pretty secure actually, and after a while it widens up so it's big enough for you all to stand upright. Leads down though."

"How far down did you go?" asked Shikamaru.

"Thirty yards or so... I think," replied Gamakichi, rubbing the top of his wart-covered head.

Shikamaru quickly did some math in his head. "We're going," he said. "Naruto, can you fit through that opening...?"

"No I can barely... hey wait... lift up the torch." Shikamaru obliged. "Hey it's wider up top. Someone get over here and give me a boost. No, wait, hang on, I got another idea... Gamakichi, move out of the way."

Naruto's hands snapped into a familiar seal. "_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_."

Four Narutos puffed into existence, and with some maneuvering and help from the others, the original squeezed up through the top and over the narrow entrance into the tunnel. "Okay I'm in... Shikamaru, Temari, your turn."

A bit more scrambling over the clones and both Shikamaru and Temari had crawled down the narrow passage with Naruto. It was very narrow, and by then they were beginning to feel claustrophobic, but a short while of crawling along later, as Gamakichi had promised, they could all stand up (taller Temari had to slouch) and were walking down the tunnel, using the torch to illuminate their path.

"This must lead out somewhere else on the other side of the canyon," he remarked. "These caves are ancient, must've been here for years." A rumbling overhead forced them to pick up their pace a little. "Unstable though..."

"Hey, I think I can hear voices up ahead," said Naruto as he walked behind Shikamaru. Temari brought up the rear, and Gamakichi was riding on Naruto's shoulder.

"He's right," remarked the little frog. "I can smell human too. Lots of different humans."

The cave came to an end, and opened up into a wide, well-lit cavern deep underground. Shikamaru quickly blew out their makeshift torch as they made their way slowly into the cavern, careful to avoid being seen until they knew who they were dealing with. By now they could all hear what was going on. Shouting primarily, and also the din of metal on metal or stone. Digging, almost. As they reached the end of the tunnel and entered into the complex they could see they stood on a short stone ledge above the ground. Quickly, the three dropped down onto their bellies and crawled forward the rest of the way to see what lay below.

Below lay a number of men, stripped to the waist and sweating heavily as they worked at the earth, digging at it with pickaxe and shovel, working to excavate something in the ground. A number of lanterns had been set up to make their job easier to do. The equipment was the odd thing... it was the same sort that had been stolen from the caravans. Even at this distance, the workmanship was unmistakable. Shikamaru even spotted an overturned crate with the merchants brand on the side of it.

It was the bandits. Unmistakable. And if they weren't, then spotting their overseers. Two boys, one in white and the other in black, and behind them, two girls, a young one with black-hair and an older woman with two ponytails and a formal kimono.

"... okay," said Naruto quietly. "We found the bandits. Uhm... what now Shikamaru?"

--

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--

"We watch for the moment," replied Shikamaru. "I want to find out what they're up to."

Whatever the bandits were digging for, it sure as hell wasn't precious materials, Shikamaru immediately realized. For one, they'd have better luck attacking a caravan with the ore already on board, no matter how many guards it had. It took specialized workers to bring up this sort of stuff. And two, they were nowhere near any veins that he was aware of (his knowledge of the area somewhat limited though it was).

No, something more sinister was the motive here. And until he figured it out, he had no idea how to approach the situation. Add to that Temari's murderous rampage against her own mother, and he had a whole word of complications that made the entire thing much too difficult for his personal tastes.

In a word, things were going to be troublesome.

Then he spotted something besides the bandits leaders. Near Touhi, the flyer. It was a table he was sitting on, swinging his legs like he was bored. On the table were a number of small items that definitely didn't fit down here. Old kunai, scrolls, shinobi tools. All of them ancient, some of them pre-dating the Great Ninja War.

Was that what they were looking for? Some ancient, musty old relic? For money? He discounted that possibility. Again, it was too much work for anyone to dig up something like this. So that meant there was still a piece of the puzzle that had yet to be revealed.

"Lady Kayuha! Lady Kayuha! We have it! We've found it!"

Sudden commotion overtook the place, and the three shinobi ducked back down as low as they could lest they be discovered. When they weren't, they risked peering over the ledge again to see what was there.

One of the bandit/workers had in his grimy little hand a small object that glittered in the torchlight. With little hesitation he tossed it up out of the pit and towards the overseers. Kuro'kiri lightly caught it in her gauntleted hand, holding it up for all to see.

It was a tiny gemstone of obsidian. It didn't look all too different from the sort of gem that hung around Naruto's neck, the gift he'd received from the Fifth Hokage.

That was their prize? A piece of jewelry?

Idly he glanced at his teammates, but they were as stunned as he was.

"We strike in two," he said, reasoning that now, while they were distracted, was the best time. "One... TWO!"

As one, the three of them vaulted off of the narrow ledge and down onto the floor of the cavern, catching all of the bandits, their overseers, and even Lady Kayuha, completely off-guard. Naruto wasted no time in take advantage of their surprise to launch himself forward, vaulting himself up over the table of antiquities, and landing two hard kicks to a pair of nearby bandits, who went down like a sack of potatoes.

"Intruders!"

"It's those Konoha brats again!"

"And Temari!"

"Stop them! Kill them!"

The area erupted into chaos as the bandits tossed aside their shovels and pickaxes to grab up their kunai and other weapons. Some didn't even bother, but charged forward with their makeshift weapons anyway.

"_Kamaitachi_!"

A howling wind ripped through the air and swatted bandits aside as if they were matchsticks, sending them crashing into the far wall. Temari was then forced back by a second wave, snapping her fan shut and forced to use it more as a club to fend off an attack to her person. In the cave's limited space her power wasn't at its strongest.

Kuro'kiri snarled and wrapped up the necklace around her left arm, raising up her right arm with the gauntlet, the gemstone burning an eerie color in the darkness. "You insufferable brats...!"

Before she could make her attack, however, a flurry of shuriken came flying at her, and she had to raise her arm to protect her face. Fortunately, she managed to counter every shuriken, knocking them aside with her gloved arm. She lowered her arm to behold Shikamaru, already armed with another half-dozen shuriken, three in each hand, ready to fly. Beside him stood Temari and Naruto.

"I don't have time for this..." she snarled, hands forming a quick seal. "_Nehan Shouja no Jutsu_"

His eyes wide, instantly recognize the attack, Shikamaru dropped his shuriken and formed his own seal. "_Kai_!"

Temari and Naruto hadn't been nearly so lucky, and neither was Gamakichi, as one, their eyes rolled back into their heads and they fell backwards, unconscious as they slumped to the ground. Gamakichi puffed out of existence, and Shikamaru vaguely recalled having heard that summoned creatures did that if they were unconscious or badly hurt. Both of his teammates slumped over, sleeping. Naruto was even snoring.

He was the only one able to fight off the sleeping technique. Now he was outnumbered and alone.

Lady Kayuha smirked from behind her subordinates. "Kill him," she said with a bored wave of her fan.

Shikamaru backed up quickly in a sudden leap and readied himself as the bandits charged... and came to a stop, half a yard away from him.

"What?!"

Shikamaru smirked behind his hands. He'd jumped back in front of a nearby torch, using the light to extend his shadow. Now he'd nearly snared every single one of the charging bandits, whose numbers (thanks to his teammates) had been cut down to nine.

Thirteen-to-one odds.

"Oh maaaan..."

He tried to stretch out his shadow and grab up Kuro'kiri and Kayuha, but both had seen his technique often enough to keep their distance. Jougo and Touhi were also too far away. He didn't have enough chakra or light to grab up any of them.

Kayuha seemed to notice that. "What's the matter, little Leaf? Running out of chakra?"

Shikamaru grunted faintly, refusing to dignify her with an answer, and concentrated to hold on his grip to the bandits.

Kuro'kiri piped up. "We've got what we came for... let the bandits slaughter this one," she said.

Kayuha glanced back up at her. "But..."

"Now, Lady Kayuha," hissed the black-haired girl. Frowning, the ponytailed blonde turned to depart, slipping her fan back into her obi as her subordinates followed closely behind her. They were out of the cave and out of sight in moments.

"You should have let me slay Temari," stated Kayuha. "I hate her," she added, almost mechanically. Her gaze was vacant, as if she was sleepwalking.

Touhi and Jougo glanced at Kuro'kiri, who waved off their concerned looks and concentrated on their leader.

"Now Lady Kayuha," she said in a soothing tone of voice, reaching up a hand to rest on the older woman's shoulder. "Temari is your daughter and she's made a mistake... and she'll pay for that mistake soon enough. Isn't that what's important?"

"N-n-y-yes," replied Kayuha, shaking her head as if to clear it. "Come on, we've got work to do."

"We sure do," said Kuro'kiri, holding up the jewel in her hand, grinning wickedly. "We sure do."

--

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Shikamaru grunted, shifting his stance to keep from falling, and grimly held on. A drop of sweat formed on his brow fell down and threatened to drop from his eyebrow, but he resisted the urge to wipe it away. Wasted energy, wasted chakra. He needed every little ounce now.

Try as he might, he couldn't come up with a suitable scenario that didn't end up with him, Naruto and Temari all very dead. He knew he couldn't hold the _Kagemane_ for more than another three minutes, and he didn't have enough chakra to perform a _Kage Kubi Shibari _on more than two of the bandits, let alone all nine of them. And he couldn't turn and wake-up his comrades, they weren't close enough for him to dispel the genjutsu without lengthening his shadow and making it harder to control the bandits.

So he grimly held on, and concentrated, and focused, and ran through the scenarios.

But time passed, and his concentration started to slip, and his chakra started to dry up, and he realized there was nothing more he could do.

He held on for as long as he could, but ultimately his _Kagemane_ cut out and his shadow retreated back to his side, and he let his arms drop to their sides and gave a mighty sigh.

The bandits, overjoyed to have a weak and helpless victim, charged forward...

... and were stopped yet again by a sudden barrier interposed between Shikamaru and then.

A wall of sand. A wall that surged outwards and completely covered the bandits, spreading through their feet and legs and rooting them in place as it seemed to pour into the cavern from all angles, filling up and letting them sink deeper, like a quicksand.

"_Sabaku Kyuu_!"

The sandy ground rose up and washed over the bandits like a watery wave, engulfing them in sand in seconds despite their struggles. Within minutes, most of them were completely engulfed, save for their heads and some of their limbs.

"_Sabaku Sousou_!"

The sand contracted violently, and Shikamaru winced as blood splattered all over the sandy ground. Inside, all of the bandits would've been crushed to death in an instant.

"You're late," he managed to spit out, glancing over to see (not to his surprise) Gaara standing their quietly. "You finally broke the genjutsu."

"I'm... not very good at mind-tricks," Gaara replied softly. He didn't add that it came from a lifetime of struggling to keep his own mind safe from the "other" inside of him, and thus his mental defenses against -external- threats was close to nil. Shikamaru would never understand completely what it felt like. And it was no excuse for what had happened to him. He should've been stronger.

He nodded. "Thanks," Shikamaru managed, glancing over at his side, where their teammates lay unconscious. If he hadn't shown up, they'd all be dead.

"... you're welcome," replied Gaara stiffly, after a moment's hesitation. The sand was already drawing back into his gourd. "But don't expect this to become a habit."

"Being late or saving my life?"

At that, even Gaara managed a small smile, though it was closer to a smirk.

--

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**Author's Notes:**

I'm not quite positive about what happens to summoned creatures if they're hurt or unconscious but it seems reasonable to me, if they can keep being summoned again and again and fighting alongside ninja in often (presumably) fatal battles. If Shukaku nearly killed Gamabunta, I can only imagine the sort of damage the Kyuubi did.


	7. Arranging the Pieces

Gaara and Shikamaru were quick to rouse their teammates and fill them in, and once again the four of them were racing across the desert after their enemies. Shikamaru, Temari, and Naruto had each popped a soldier's pill as they did, a small supply their chuunin commander always kept with him as a precaution. Right now, after languishing in that cave for who knows how long, they were grateful. As they ran, Shikamaru tugged loose a piece of parchment from his vest and studied as they ran, grateful for once they weren't tree-hopping. The clear stretch of desert made it easier for him to run in a straight line and not have his eyes up.

"What's that?" asked Naruto, dropping back beside him.

"A map the Fifth gave us before we left on this mission," stated Shikamaru. "Look... this here," he tapped it. "This is where the caravan was attacked... and this must be Winding Snake Way, where we were ambushed."

"Winding Snake Path," Temari called back at him.

"Right that... must've been renamed... god damn this map is old," grumbled Shikamaru. "Must predate the Great Shinobi Wars... look this settlement here," he added, jabbing the map in the Fire Country. "That was wiped out twelve years ago by the Kyuubi."

"What's your point, Nara?"

He scowled at her. "If we're running..." he checked the sun. "West... we're heading deeper into Wind Country, and therefore Sand Village territory. Specifically, we're heading for this," he added, tapping the map again.

She dropped back to peer over his shoulder along with Naruto. "A garrison outpost? Those things were abandoned after the Great Shinobi War. We had to pull back and focus our strength."

Garrison outposts were not the sort found by the military, but tended to be highly concealed fortresses where shinobi could store equipment while on the move, or used as watchtowers for enemy movement. The Academy had taken a trip to visit one of the old Konoha garrisons, hidden high up the branches of an oak tree and, from the ground, virtually invisible. He suspected this one would be much the same.

"The bandits must've taken it over as their headquarters," remarked Shikamaru.

"But there's just ruins there. Nothing of value. Just old..." she started to say, then stopped dead in her tracks.

The others skidded to a halt in the sand beside her, and Gaara came to a calm stop on top of a rising hill just up ahead.

"... old what?" asked Shikamaru.

"It fits," she said suddenly. "They're after the weapons housed there."

"What weapons?"

She glanced up, suddenly realizing who she was speaking to. "That's classified Sand Village secrets," she said.

"We've been over this secret stuff before," replied Shikamaru. "Tell me what you know or you and Gaara sit this one out."

She hesitated, but common sense eventually overruled loyalty, and she sighed. "During the Great Shinobi War, the Hidden Sand wasn't... wasn't as strong as some of the other Shinobi Nations. We had to be inventive. A lot of weapons were created, specialized puppets, war machines, scrolls of forbidden seals and jutsus. A lot of it wasn't workable and was stored at that outpost. Most of it was moved after it was abandoned but..."

"... there's a chance they overlooked something. And the bandits found it. And now it's in the hands of one very pissed off mother of yours."

Shikamaru cast his eyes skywards.

"Maaaan... why can't it ever be easy?"

--

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--

A sudden wall of sand shot up as a rain of shuriken came down atop of them, and they ducked instinctively.

"Get down," hissed Gaara, springing over lightly to stand beside them.

High overhead, Touhi swept past and let loose another volley of kunai, but they were all deflected by Gaara's sand. However, these kunai had exploding tags attached to them, and the explosion was more than even the sand could handle, though it cushioned the blast. Their team scattered in all different directions.

Naruto rolled to his feet to find his vision obscured by pristine white robes. Jougo, smiling lazily, stood before him, beckoning him on.

Gaara stood impassively, alone, still doing his best to block Touhi's further attacks. Sand rose up to cocoon him in a protective shell as death rained down atop of him from above.

Temari and Shikamaru came rolling down the hill to fall practically at the feet of Kuro'kiri and Kayuha, who smirked playfully.

"You're tougher than you look boy," remarked Kayuha, drawing out her fan and snapping it open. "Good... _Fujin no Mai_!" she snarled with a wave of her fan. The blast caught Shikamaru full on and sent him tumbling over a half-dozen yards before he collapsed onto the ground, out like a light.

"You... bitch!" Temari snarled with equal anger, not bothering to open up her fan as she charged forward, swinging it like a club to knock some sense into her mother's thick head. But to her surprise, and even a little shock, Kayuha snapped up both hands to block the blow with her closed fan... no... fans. She'd drawn a second one from the back of her, where the obi had hidden it. And they were made of the same iron-hard materials hers was. Iron war fans. Unorthodox fighting but certainly worked.

"You betrayed me, Temari... your own mother!"

"You're the traitor! You turned your back on Hidden Sand!"

Temari grimly pushed forward, spreading her legs to give herself a wider stance, but it wasn't helping. Her mom was too strong to physically overpower. This was demonstrated moments later when Kayuha threw her arms up, knocking clear the larger fan and launched an attack after it. Temari dodged aside, rolling in the sand and coming up, ready to open up with her own attack.

"_Fujin no Mai_!"

"_Kamaitachi_!"

Gust of wind met gust of wind, and the whole region whipped up in cycolonic winds, knocking Temari clean off her feet and knocking her mother backwards a few steps.

"You always were weak, o' daughter of mine... is that why you did it? Is that why you -betrayed- me?!" shouted Kayuha, swinging her fans as she twirled about in an intricate, deadly dance. The winds whipped up, and Temari swung her fan down in front of her to provide cover, but it wouldn't last for very long.

Through it all, Kuro'kiri stood there, arms crossed, and grinned, her bright eyes sparkling. "Ahh, mother-daughter bonding... how sweet. Well I won't keep you two... I'll just finish everything myself..." she stated, holding up the necklace. "Bye now."

She blurred and was gone, leaving her subordinates to fight for her.

--

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Naruto hadn't had a mother to tell him right from wrong, and as such, over the years he'd picked up quite a few words that most mothers would've disapproved of. His skill at cursing had only grown the more he'd traveled, and even by age thirteen he could curse up a storm if the need presented itself.

Right now, he was doing just that.

No matter what he tried, he simply couldn't hit Jougo, his movements were too fluid, and the wind surrounding his body pushed away an attack that even came close to striking him. His counterattacks were worse, and Naruto's body was already wracked with bruises from where the annoyingly calm boy had been beating him senseless.

And there he stood again, beckoning Naruto on.

Nearly tempted to roar aloud in rage, Naruto forced himself to calm down and think rationally. Frontal attacks just plain weren't working against Jougo. Even multiple attacks from different angles with his _Kage Bunshin_ didn't work, he'd just try another whirling technique like he did before. _Rasengan_ was out for the same reason.

Think, he berated himself, giving his skull a solid knock with his fist. Think.

Meanwhile, Gaara was having his own trouble Touhi, who was also able to summarily avoid any and all of Gaara's sand-based attacks, being too high up in the sky and too maneuverable to be hit. Worse, unlike Gaara, he had some secrets still hidden up his sleeve. Or rather, in his mouth.

A quick series of handseals later, ending with the seal of the tiger, and...

"_Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu_"

Gaara's sand rose up to cocoon him quickly, seconds too late, and the thin layer of his shield sand didn't provide enough protection from the raw heat and flame which blasted clear through and engulfed Gaara, blasting him away and knocking him flat to the ground. The sand all around him had been so superheated it had turned to glass, and Touhi grinned, certain his foe was dead.

To his surprise, however, the mangled, fried corpse of Gaara... melted away into sand.

Casting his gaze about in shock, Touhi managed to locate his target, standing calmly on a nearby sand down. A Suna Bunshin. Clever.

"That won't save you forever!" he shouted, already readying up some kunai and affixing his specially made exploding tags. The kind that made regular ones seem like firecrackers.

Gaara frowned up at him, and conceded three points. One, his opponent wasn't easy to reach and thus wasn't easy to fight. Two, he wasn't able to avoid his attacks forever, that last one had been dangerously close. Three, Naruto was also having trouble with his foe, as evidenced by his slamming down roughly to the ground for the umpteenth time.

The red-haired demon-host sprang lightly over beside Naruto, and the sand slipped under his shoulders to help him to his feet.

"We need a new strategy," remarked Gaara. "Take the flyer... I will handle this one."

Naruto almost argued against that, saying he was perfectly capable of ripping Jougo's arms out and beating him to death with them, but he realized Gaara was right. "Knock 'im dead," Naruto said with a friendly slap on Gaara's back as he ran past him and towards Touhi.

Jougo smirked, an almost idyllitic expression on his face as he beheld his new enemy. "A chance to defeat the legendary Gaara... oh I've waited for a chance like this."

"You will have to wait considerably longer," replied Gaara. Without any gestures on his part, the sand sprang up and started firing rapid small bursts of compressed sand bullets, each razor-sharp and hard as iron.

With practiced, unnaturally fluid grace, Jougo twisted and turned his body, backstepping and pivoting on his heels, at one point even flipping backwards on a single palm. Not one sand bullet touched him. Those that came close, that he couldn't fully dodge, the shield of air around him deflected, sending them whizzing off harmlessly in other directions.

Jougo however, was done playing, and prepared to get every bit as serious with Gaara as he was with him. Unlike the blonde-haired idiot, he sensed a real threat in his new foe. His hands flowed effortlessly to form seals.

"_Kaze no Shuuren_!" he called, as he raised his arms, crossed in front of him.

As Gaara watched, a great cyclone of wind built up around each arm from elbow-to-fist, so powerful it was visible to the naked eye. It came to a point somewhere just beyond the fist, immediately apparent why it had been named such. When Jougo's next punch hit, he'd be sending a spiraling tornado clear through his opponent.

"Now it's time... for you to die, Gaara-san," he stated, and charged forward...

... only to slip, stumble, his ankle knee-deep in sand.

Gasping in shock, Jougo's technique was dispelled, the wind vanishing from his limbs as his leg sank deeper into the thick sand at his feet. His other quickly followed, and in moments he was up to his waist already, hesitant to move, unable to dodge. Gaara upraised a hand, and the sand further slid upwards, moving more visibly now, and engulfed his arms and upper torso, leaving only his head exposed as Gaara stepped over to stand directly in front of him.

"No matter how good you are, your feet must touch the ground... and the ground I control," he stated in a quiet tone.

"No...! No you can't do this to me!" shouted Jougo, his calm facade shattering, struggling against the heavy sand but only succeeding in sinking himself in deeper. "You can't do this!"

Gaara raised up his hand, fingers outstretched. "I just did..." and closed his fingers into a fist.

"_Sabaku Sousou_!"

--

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One down, one to go.

Naruto, however, was faced with much the same problem against Touhi as he had with Jougo... if he couldn't actually hit him, there was practically nothing he could do. He'd tossed a few kunai but that was practically the extent of his long-ranged attacks, and there was no way he could flap his arms and fly up there after Touhi himself.

So he'd settled for his favorite battle tactic.

"_Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!"

A huge puff of smoke later, and Touhi was flying over a small enemy army of orange-clad idiots. It was practically raining shuriken and kunai -upwards- instead of downwards, but straight up at him. Fortunately, he was a master of the air, and his black wings drew backwards and up out of the range of the kunai, which inevitably fell back down to earth (some taking out the duplicates on their return fall). Gravity was a harsh mistress, but only to his enemies. Up here in the sky, with no one above him, Touhi was unbeatable.

He said as much.

"You are going down!" promised Naruto (one of him, at least). "Believe it!"

"I'll believe it when I see it!" replied Touhi, tossing down a few exploding tag kunai. Explosions shot up all over the place, and great clouds of smoke obscured sight of the multiple clones below, though the cries of more than a few indicated they'd been puffed out of existence. The original as well?

When the smoke cleared, it seemed not. More than half a dozen remained behind, and quickly moved together for some reason, making them an easier target for Touhi as he grabbed up the last of his special explosive tag kunai. A puff of smoke obscured his vision, and when it cleared, only one Naruto lay below him.

"Eat this!" shouted Naruto, flinging his hands forward with a half-dozen shuriken. Touhi dodged aside, laughing to himself. The boy really didn't know when to give up. Ah well... he'd finish the job Jougo couldn't properly.

He reared back his hand...

Suddenly half a dozen puffs occurred -above- him, and he twisted in shock, tilting his head upwards at an awkward angle to see...

... Half a dozen Naruto's coming flying down towards him...! How?!?!

_Kage Bunshin_ -and- _Henge no Jutsu_, he realized. The original had turned the others into shuriken and hurled them up past him, and now they were coming back down, atop of him, where he was most vulnerable.

"_U-zu-ma-ki_...!"

Three precisely aimed kicks hit him full in his unprotected back, and the fourth tore clear through one of his wings, sending Touhi into a downward spiral, dropping his kunai in the process and letting it explode harmlessly off in the distance. He could only watched in dizzied horror as the last Naruto, the one on the ground, leapt up at the last minute to meet him with a fist to the face, launching a vicious uppercut to end their bout.

"_Naruto Rendan_!"

Touhi was hit so hard his jaw shattered and he went end-over-end to crash into the ground with the force of a meteor strike, his entire body broken and battered, wrapped in the broken remains of his glider, limbs twisted at unnatural angles. He was alive, but at the moment, that wasn't a comfort.

Naruto massaged his bruised knuckles. His reversed-combo attack had been a bit of a gamble but it had paid off, but he doubted he'd be able to use it in that fashion against normal opponents. Still, he'd won. He smirked, the pain already fading, and openly mocked his enemy's previous superiority.

"Gravity -is- a harsh mistress," said Naruto grimly, before turning his back and stalking off to find Gaara. Only once his back was to his unconscious foe did he frown to himself, pondering idly.

"What -is- a mistress? I should ask Ero-sennin when I see him next, he might know…"

--

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**Author's Notes:**

Kaze no Shuren is, roughly, Drill of Wind, but ultimately isn't important, since the attack never hit.


	8. Checkmate

A blast of wind knocked Temari backwards and sliced at her body, drawing long gashes along her arms and stomach, slicing at her clothes and skin alike, drawing blood. Such was the power of Kayuha. Compared to her, Temari was a simple novice again with a paper fan trying to blow out a candle.

"You all betrayed me," said Kayuha, snapping and unsnapping her fans as she advanced, savoring the moment. "All of you."

"You're the traitor to Hidden Sand," Temari replied.

"Hidden Sand betrayed me long before I betrayed them," replied Kayuha, unleashing another blast of air that knocked Temari's legs out from underneath her and sent her rolling onto the sandy ground. She smirked, however, not pressing her attack, and instead moved as if to brush lint from the bottom of her kimono. "I was all too aware of your little 'council' daughter dearest."

"Council? What council?"

Kayuha wagged a finger at her, making a 'tsk-tsk' sound with her lips. "Not nice to lie, daughter dearest... I repeat, I knew of your Council... I saw it. I heard what you plotted to do... oust me out of power and make Gaara the Fifth Kazekage."

"Gaara?" frowned Temari, more confused than angered by that statement. Gaara was barely thirteen, and he was hated by the village. Or feared, which amounted to the same thing. He would never be the Kazekage, even given his recent change in behavior. And there had never been such a council meeting to decide on any of this.

"You're just lying to throw me off-guard!" shouted Temari, swinging up her fan and letting loose a blast of wind. Kayuha blocked it, countering easily.

"Me lying?! Kuro'kiri showed me the council's secret meeting! She showed me everything! We left that very night."

"There wasn't any council! I was out on a mission that night…!"

In that instant, it all made perfect sense.

Lady Kayuha hadn't betrayed Hidden Sand, and they hadn't betrayed her. Kuro'kiri had cast some sort of genjutsu over her, given her a false memory of a meeting that never took place, whispered lie after lie into her ear until she believed them and rebelled against people she thought hated her. Kuro'kiri was the real mastermind behind all of this, with Touhi and Jougo either willing accomplices or more genjutsu-controlled slaves. And she was using Lady Kayuha's prominent charisma and political connections to weaken Hidden Sand.

"Mom, wait...!"

"Shut up! No more lies, you little brat!" shouted Kayuha, topping it off with a "_Ryuuha no Mai_!" A small hurricane came barreling down the path towards Temari, who quickly changed tactics and used her own fan on the ground, creating a backlash wave that knocked herself out of the way. It still hurt but it helped her avoid any serious injuries from her mother's attack.

"There's no reasoning with her..." Temari realized. Kuro'kiri's genjutsu was too strong.

"No... but we can still beat her," came a new voice by her ear. "_Kagemane no Jutsu_."

A shadowy tendril raced across the sandy desert towards Lady Kayuha, but she was amply prepared, having seen (and heard) of the shadow bind technique before, and was quick to leap backwards and out of his range. Much as her daughter had during the chuunin exam, she recognized his limits and saw he only had limited range with his ability.

She panted softly for breath, having been startled by the sudden attack, but shouted across the distance to them both. "Nice try!" she shouted, raising up both fans and doing an intricate spin, standing in place. "Now I'll finish off both of you!"

"**_Souryuu Boufuu_**!!" she cried, her voice echoing throughout the landscape.

A storm picked up. The clouds darkened, lightning flashed high up in the sky and thunder boomed high overhead. A long cone of raging wind formed, snaking down from on high, and formed into the visible image of a great, snarling dragon, then split into two such dragons, snaking around one another as they rushed down towards Shikamaru and Temari.

Temari threw herself up in front of Shikamaru, biting into her thumb. If this didn't work, they were both screwed. Quickly she unfurled her fan and drew her blood along it. "_Kuchiyoise... dai Kamaitachi! Kirikirimai_!" she cried.

This was her most powerful attack.

If this failed…

… it wouldn't fail.

Wind was a tricky element to master, and a very powerful one in many respects. Wind was everywhere, could be anywhere a first-rate user was. Water was a harder thing to conjure and control by comparison, and most water-users needed a source nearby to work their jutsus. Not so wind, for the air was everywhere. It was virtually impossible to block, to counter, or to protect oneself against. Usually the most feasible way to save yourself from attack was to dodge it.

There was one counter. More wind.

Temari's summon, a white weasel wielding a scythe, popped into being as her gust of wind went soaring up into the air to counter the might of the dragons above. With inhuman speed and precision, the scythe cut through the air in a multiple of places, slicing through the wind itself, reducing the dragons to nothing. By the time they came down to hit Temari and Shikamaru, it was more a pleasant autumn breeze than a raging hurricane.

But Kayuha wasn't done yet, and Temari was nearly completely out of chakra. Her weasel summon vanished when the attack ended. And she realized she was beat… she collapsed onto her knees.

Shikamaru stood there. Battered, bruised, but able to fight. He offered her a hand up, which she accepted. "Sorry about this," he said, releasing her hand as she stood to form a familiar seal.

She instantly felt her body freeze.

" Nara...! What... the hell?!?! I'm not your enemy, you stupid...!!"

"I know," he replied calmly. "_Ninpou... Konbi Kagemane no Jutsu_!"

Standing so close together, Shikamaru and Temari's shadows were virtually the same. And together, they made for a much wider space that Shikamaru could now use to send a long black tendril shooting out across the ground towards Lady Kayuha. Though she miscalculated slightly and had to roll to one side to get further away before the shadowy tendril came to a halt a few feet away from her sandaled feet as her body slammed up lightly against a nearby boulder. She couldn't move any further back, but thankfully the shadow couldn't reach her, so it didn't matter.

"... you'll never defeat me," said Kayuha, though she was breathing more heavily than before, and was clearly starting to strain herself. She was still a dangerous threat though.

Shikamaru calmly shifted position, and beside him, Temari mirrored his actions. Shikamaru lifted up his hands as if holding something between them. Temari, beside him, held up her closed fan, which lengthened their shadow in the sky. It stretched even further, and Kayuha pressed back against the rocks. But again, it still fell short of actually touching her feet by a few inches. She released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, and was about to taunt them once more, when Shikamaru moved one final time.

His hand came up… Temari's mirrored it…

… he lightly tapped something not held in his hands…

… she tapped the end of her fan, and it unfolded open slowly, spreading wide…

… and making their shadow grow larger.

Kayuha's eyes snapped open and she tried to look for an escape, but there was none, and seconds later, she felt her entire body go rigid.

"_Kagemane_ a success," stated Shikamaru. Sighing heavily to relax a little, the battle essentially over, he took small, deliberate steps forward. By his side and before him respectively, Temari and Kayuha stepped in mirror-like motions to match him, closing the gap between the two teams. As they got within a few yards, Shikamaru released Temari from the shadowbind and held Kayuha himself.

"She's all yours," he said, ready to release the jutsu the instant Temari made her attack.

Temari hesitated.

"Go on then," spat Kayuha. "Finish it."

Temari's fist lashed out and caught her mother full across the jaw seconds after Shikamaru cut the attack, sending the older blonde reeling to crash against the ground. Temari winced, clutching her fist, the knuckles of which were bruised from the sheer force she'd used.

Shikamaru idly glanced down at their fallen opponent. Still their enemy, in fact. And despite relations, Temari had stated that her orders were to kill her.

"… are you going to kill her?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "This isn't her fault… we'll take her back home and undo the mess that's been done to her mind… and maybe then we'll see what to do with her."

He nodded. "Thanks for delivering the final blow. I couldn't come up with a proper idea that didn't involve in killing her outright."

"No?"

"Not really. I don't like fighting women," he remarked quietly, hands in his pockets. "Seems to be my fate though... Kin, Tayuya, that Kamina psycho who was after the Gelel stone, even you. Now your mom."

"Should I be jealous?" she quipped, smirking. "You fighting other women beside me?"

He glanced at her and rolled his eyes.

"How troublesome."

--

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--

Unaware her subordinates and puppets had all been totally thrashed by the Sand and Leaf shinobi, Kuro'kiri tumbled down the canyon way towards her ultimate goal.

Kuro'kiri's tale was one of ambition and power. She had stumbled across a great secret, and now intended to use it to destroy Hidden Sand and rebuild it in her image. Recruiting Lady Kayuha had been a stroke of genius on her part, for the divorced wife of the Kazekage had remained popular in the village after his death, and she'd been useful in rallying other missing-nin and the like from all over, which saved Kuro'kiri a lot of trouble. It was easier to control one individual rather than fifty. But now she had no more need of the bandits, Jougo, Touhi, Kayuha… any of them.

Not anymore.

She slid down to the next level of the canyon and skidded down the side of the wall, deftly landing beside the cave complex she'd discovered here a short while after she'd fled from Hidden Sand and become a renegade. During the Great Shinobi War, this is another place where dangerous tools had been hidden, and as she lit a torch hanging from a nearby wall, she beheld one of the most dangerous of them all.

The Black Sand Golem.

Standing fully three meters high, it's great head brushed would brush against the cave's ceiling were it standing upright. It resembled a great armored man in black iron armor, and on it's chestplate it bore the symbol of the Hidden Sand village. Soon to be Kuro'kiri's village. It was an impressive monstrosity, moreso because unlike a puppet, she had no need to use chakra strings to control it. It functioned on it's own, obeying her will. And her will was to conquer.

The Hidden Sand, weak-gutted fools that they were, had felt it too dangerous a weapon, and it had been stored away here, with the activation key and the control gauntlet being buried in separate locations around the Wind Country to ensure they would never be brought together. A gauntlet that now rested on Kuro'kiri's right arm. And a key which she drew out and let dangle from her hand like the gemstone necklace it resembled.

The bandits had served her purpose, and paved the way to ultimate power.

"Hey!"

Kuro'kiri's head snapped up, and she glanced at the entrance to the cave, her bright eyes opening wide with shock. All of her enemies stood before her, ready to do battle. She silently cursed her subordinates for failing to stop them… failing to even slow them down much, it looked like. Still, perhaps they'd been weakened enough for her to stop them now.

Her hands quickly formed seals. "_Magen - Jigoku Gouka no Jutsu!!_"

Fire poured from her burning eyes and washed over them in an instant, sending Gaara, Temari, and Naruto crashing to the ground, thrashing about in pain. Shikamaru grimly held his ground, snapping his hands together.

"_Kai_!"

Shikamaru alone broke free, panting heavily for breath. Her genjutsu was powerful. Even now, the others writhed on the ground behind him, and he was alone against Kuro'kiri. And she knew it.

"Shadows are useless to you in the dark, aren't they, little Leaf?" she asked, deliberately standing in the shadows out of his reach.

He winced, but nodded. "Correct."

She held up the key, leaping onto the machine's leg and preparing to insert it into the Black Sand Golem's side to activate it from century-long sleep. "Then you… are powerless! And now, with the key and the control gauntlet… I win!"

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a little brown dog leapt up and latched onto her hand. Fully half a second later, the impact set in, and she gave an undignified screech, waving her arm about to dislodge the annoying little furball.

"AAHHH! Get it off! Get it off!" she shouted, ultimately grabbing the scruff of the dog's coat and hurling him back towards the entrance to the cave, whereupon she spotted her true opponents.

A silver-haired, one-eyed man in a black face-mask and Konoha ninja garb, crouched on the bottom of the steps. And standing a few steps back, a powerful Sand ninja wearing a half-veil and bearing two red slashes on his right cheek.

Kakashi and Baki.

The Copy Ninja raised his hand in greeting and gave a friendly 'yo.'

--

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**Author's Notes: **

Souryuu Boufuu, should be, I hope, Twin Dragon Whirlwind. Konbi Kagemane no Jutsu, is the Combination Shadowbind Technique. Not entirely sure if it's something Shikamaru can pull off but it seems likely, considering how he can use other shadows around to extend his own. 


	9. Last Dance

Kuro'kiri wringed out her hand, injured from the dogbite, and idly wondered if the filthy little thing had been infected with rabies. "You're too late, all of you!" she cried. "With this, I have ultimate power..!"

"A Black Sand Golem…" intoned Baki breathlessly, recognizing the monstrosity. "You foolish girl, those things…!"

"Too powerful?! Too dangerous?! Let's give it a test run then," she howled, reaching down… and finding the gemstone gone!

"Looking for this?" asked Kakashi, reaching down to Pakkun, who sat obediently and opened his mouth, dropping the crystal key into Kakashi's gloved hand.

Kuro'kiri shrieked in rage, but then smirked, and shook her head. "No… looking for this," she said, holding up her hand. In it dangled the crystal key. Blinking in surprise, Kakashi reached up and grabbed his forehead protector to draw it back, exposing his _Sharingan_. To his shock, once the illusion was dispelled, he saw that his enemy really did have the real key. To think she'd been able to trick him was testimony to her skill…

… time for praise later, he realized.

Kuro'kiri thrust the crystal into the Golem's side and twisted, and within seconds, the activation sequence had begun.

"Arise, Black Sand! ARISE!"

Kakashi and Baki stumbled backwards as the golem slowly began to move, stepping forward as it rose fluidly to it's full height. Beneath the brow of it's black armor helmet, a pair of green-blue eyes began to glow. The sigil on it's chest did the same as Kuro'kiri leapt down before it, raising up her gauntleted hand. The gemstone began to glow as well, establishing a link between the two.

"This is bad I take it," remarked Kakashi casually.

"Very," replied Baki.

Kuro'kiri held up her hands triumphantly before the golem, grinning like a madwoman. "Now the Golem is mine! Destroy them! Destroy them all! Destroy everything!!"

The Black Sand Golem lifted up it's gigantic metallic hand, and both teams tensed, but as they watched, it closed not around them, but suddenly around Kuro'kiri!

"WHAT?! Put me down! No! What are you doing?!"

It dawned on Shikamaru in an instant.

"You idiot!" he shouted out to her. "The Golem won't obey you because of the control gauntlet! It's damaged!"

She snapped up her right arm, her left being slowly crushed at her side. He was right, a crack lay in the gemstone. One of the shuriken she'd blocked with it, back during their encounter at the dig site. He'd done this! He'd ruined everything!

"NO! No you can't do this to me! Stop! I command! I commaaaaarrrggghh!!"

Those gathered shielded their eyes as Kuro'kiri vanished in a splatter of crimson, her body crushed like so much pulp. Her death-scream echoed throughout the cavern. Only Gaara seemed completely unfazed by the carnage before him.

Baki quickly he turned back to the team. "Get out of here, all of you…! MOVE!"

Such was his tone that none disagreed, and Gaara, Temari, Shikamaru and Naruto all made quick haste up the makeshift stairs and out the exit into the canyon, getting a safe distance away, leaving Kakashi and Baki behind, both jounins readying themselves for battle as the Golem hesitantly started to move, it's joints creaking, stiff from disuse.

"How do we stop it?" asked Kakashi. "Has it any weaknesses?"

"None that I'm aware of," replied Baki.

Another thunderous step forward, and the cavern shook from the weight of the behemoth, causing dust to rain down from above. Kakashi idly glanced upwards, and an idea formed in his head.

"Keep it busy! I've got an idea!"

Baki nodded, forming handseals. "_Kaze no Yaiba_!" he roared like a battle-cry, and charged forward, sending waves of compact, sharpened wind to slash at the Golem's body, clawing ineffectively at it's iron-hard skin. However, the attacks pushed it back, and that was all Kakashi needed. It would be in position soon.

He formed the necessary seals, pooling lightning into his hand. "_Rakiri_," he intoned, holding his hand down and waiting… watching with his _Sharingan_… waiting… waiting… wait…

… NOW!

"Get down!" he shouted, relieved to see Baki backflip himself backwards and out of the way, landing near the entrance as Kakashi pushed off with his legs and rocketed forward, arm practically wreathed in lightning as he thrust it forward.

His open palm slammed fully into the side of an gigantic stalactite, hitting at the base where it connected to the roof of the cavern. The stone crumbled like sand under Kakashi's charged attack, and the rocks started to come tumbling down. The great spike impaled itself clear through the Golem's shoulder, knocking it forward and pinning it to the ground.

But it appeared that Kakashi had under-estimated his own strength, and the whole cavern shock, more boulders starting to join the first, as well as more stalactites. "It's coming down!" he shouted, and prepared to leap towards the exit.

A cold metal fist closed around his leg.

Kakashi stumbled, his leg jerking as he looked back in horror, seeing the Golem holding his foot in it's hand. Unable to move it's other arm, it was still mindlessly trying to destroy him with whatever means it had available to it. It pulled, trying to drag him back, and Kakashi panicked, unable to think of a way to break free.

"_Kaze no Yaiba_!"

A sword of wind as hard as iron slammed down as Baki made his attack, and it was enough to dislodge the fist. Kakashi made good his escape, and side-by-side the two jounin raced out of the cave seconds before it came collapsing downwards, sending up a cloud of dust that obscured the two teams and their instructors.

When all the dust cleared, they'd won.

--

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Outside of the Hidden Village of Sand, the two teams bid their good-byes.

The mission was over, for both villages. Hidden Sand and Hidden Leaf both bid good-bye to their current round of bandit problems, the merchants had mostly been saved, and Hidden Sand was dispatching a small team to retrieve the mining gear at the dig-site, as well as confiscate the dangerous items found there. These would be brought back to Hidden Sand to properly lock away in the Kazekage's office.

Touhi and Jougo, prominent missing-nin in their own right, had been crossed off Hidden Sand's bingo book. As had the unbalanced Kuro'kiri.

Kayuha had been more fortunate, they'd rushed her back to a hospital and let the Sand's medic-nins see to her, as well as help to dispel the genjutsu. Her memories fully restored, she was horrified at what she'd done against the village she loved, but the council had ruled her innocent on all counts, thanks to the testimony of Baki, Gaara, and Temari.

Kayuha stood with them to bid farewell to the Konoha team that had helped to save her as much as Hidden Sand.

"I'm… so very ashamed for all that happened because of me," she said, eyes downcast.

Naruto, unable to stay mad at people for very long, took it all in stride. "Hey, it's no big deal, it wasn't you."

"He's right. Kuro'kiri was behind all of this, and she's paid for her crimes," added Shikamaru.

Kayuha nodded, but didn't seem sure. It would take a while before she was fully recovered from the terrible ordeal she'd been through. But if the way Temari rested a hand comfortingly on her shoulder was any indication, they were going to be just fine.

An awkward silence descended on the two groups.

"Well," said Kakashi, pointedly breaking the silence, not even glancing up from his Icha Icha Paradise book. "I guess we'll be on our way."

"Bye-bye!" said Naruto, following his sensei with a wave. "Take care Temari… Gaara…!"

Shikamaru lingered a moment longer before he also turned to depart.

"Shikamaru…!"

He stopped in his tracks, turning to behold Temari.

"I… thank you for saving my mother."

He shrugged lightly, hands still in his pockets. Not like he'd done much, after all. He just carried out his mission. It was his job.

He said as much.

Temari fidgeting, fiddling with her hands, and then finally leaned forward and gave Shikamaru a quick little peck on the cheek for his trouble. " Nara if you brag about this to anyone so help me I'll make you eat a kunai… business-end first…!" she stated hotly, her face flushed a bright crimson.

Barely affected by either her kiss or threat, Shikamaru nodded, turned, and followed after Kakashi and Naruto. He did roll his eyes when Naruto immediately started questioning him about the kiss, holding up his pinkie and asking if Temari was now his girlfriend, and idly wished they could just get back to Konoha and he could get away from dumb blondes.

Watching them go, Temari sighed to herself, and Kayuha now was the one to put a hand on her shoulder in a motherly way. A way she hadn't touched her daughter in nearly two years, not since she'd started teaching her wind techniques. But she'd been her instructor then.

Now she was her mother again.

And even mothers were allowed a little polite teasing.

"You could do worse, you know," she teased Temari, as they turned and returned to the Village Hidden in the Sand.

--

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**Author's Notes: **

The Black Sand Golem is made up, and the technology involved is loosely based on stuff seen in both first and second Naruto movies. Lost technology. 


End file.
